Los Angeles’s main utility company will compensate victims of January’s deadly Eaton wildfire – even though investigators have yet to determine whether the company’s equipment sparked the blaze.
In a statement released Wednesday, Southern California Edison announced the establishment of the Wildfire Recovery Compensation Program, a voluntary fund it developed in consultation with Kenneth R Feinberg and Camille S Biros, the duo who designed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.
“Community members shouldn’t have to wait for the final conclusions in the Eaton Fire investigation to get the financial support they need to begin rebuilding,” Pedro J Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, SCE’s parent company, said in a statement. “Even though the details of how the Eaton Fire started are still being evaluated, SCE will offer an expedited process to pay and resolve claims fairly and promptly. This allows the community to focus more on recovery instead of lengthy, expensive litigation.”
Although the Los Angeles fire department is still investigating the cause of the Eaton fire, a leading theory is that the utility’s ageing equipment ignited the first spark. Since the fire broke out on 7 January, dozens of families, and even the city of Los Angeles, have filed lawsuits against Southern California Edison.
In its press release, the utility said the victims’ compensation program would launch this fall and that participation would require “no application fees, administrative costs or legal fees”.
Related: Charred chimneys are all that’s left of these LA midcentury homes. Inside the quest to save them
The company’s announcement comes amid concerns that the state of California’s wildfire fund may not be able to handle the size of the insured losses if Edison is found responsible. In that case, the state fund would pay out any settlements in lawsuits against Edison.
The California Earthquake Authority, which administers the fund, told the Los Angeles Times that it worries attorney fees could shrink the fund further (up to half of settlement amounts can go to legal fees).
Attorney Richard Bridgford, who represents victims of the wildfires, meanwhile told the Times: “Victims have uniformly done better when represented by counsel.”
“In the past, the utilities have proposed these programs as a means for shorting and underpaying victims,” he added. “They are trying to make people panic so they don’t get adequate representation.”